Edmonton Oilers farmhand goalie scores reported raise

The Edmonton Oilers farmhand goalie joined Bakersfield Condor teammate Tyler Benson on the American Hockey League’s all-star second team and also signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $700,000 in the National Hockey League, a reported raise of $125,000 to play in the minors.

Starrett, a former Air Force Academy free-agent, will definitely be going to camp this fall with much more love, even if the Oilers sign an experienced back-up such as Curtis McElhinney.

The six-foot-five, 200-pounder knows that he still has some road left to travel to make it to the NHL and that his sterling regular-season performance (a 27-12-2 record, a 2.33 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage) doesn’t always carry over to the playoffs. He had a 2.89 average and a .889 save percentage in his two post-season rounds, but the Oilers know they have a good prospect when other teams have struck out signing college goalies.

“I knew last year I wasn’t high on the depth chart, and I wanted to show I could perform at a higher level. I’m pushing myself to get there,” said Starrett, who had organizational goalie coach Sylvain Rodrigue in Bakersfield all season. “I thought my reads were much better this year than my first season of pro (ECHL) coming out of college. It accelerated my game at a higher level … I still have to work on my puck play behind the net and work on the technical aspect to go with my size.”

Starrett, who turns 25 next month and is back home in Bellingham, Mass., 50 km southwest of Boston, still thinks of his school buddies and what he might be missing.

“Yeah, they’ve graduated and are second lieutenants in the Air Force. I miss my former teammates, but does anybody really miss the school work?” he said with a laugh.

Hamilton winger might be best Oilers bet at eight

There’s a slew of centres available at this year’s NHL Draft who might be available for the Oilers with their eighth-overall pick — such as Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras, Kirby Dach, Dylan Cozens, whom many scouts feel will be a better NHL winger, and Peyton Krebs — but here’s an intriguing winger to consider if the Oilers were to move back a few spots in a draft-floor trade: Arthur Kaliyev, who plays for ex-Oiler Steve Staios, the junior tea’s president, in Hamilton.

He’s got a blistering shot and does have some warts but, as scouting guru Craig Button says, “every player does.”

“I know Staios is a big fan. He gets to where you score goals, 51 this year (102 points) on a Hamilton team that wasn’t that strong,” said Button. “A big left-shot, right-winger. I always think of Ken Holland’s philosophy on shooters. When people say all a player does is score, I’ve never heard a coach say ‘we have too much scoring.’ Ken always says the team that has the most goals wins.’’

If a team wanted to trade for No. 8 and gave up a good prospect, and the Oilers only had to move back to Nos. 10-12, Kaliyev might be an alternative. That’s if the player the Oilers covet more than Kaliyev at No. 8 is gone, mind you.

Edmonton Oilers’ Brad Malone (24) battles New York Rangers’ Filip Chytil (72) during the second period of a NHL game at Rogers Place on March 11, 2019.Ian Kucerak /
Postmedia

McDavid congratulated Condors’ Malone

Kirk Muller’s son-in-law Brad Malone, an Oilers farmhand, told Bob Stauffer on local radio show Oilers Now he got a nice text from Connor McDavid to congratulate him on his new one-year contract. That’s what team captains do. Malone led Bakersfield in playoff scoring through their two rounds (13 points, 10 games).

Can Viveiros find an NHL job?

Assistant coach Manny Viveiros, who wasn’t retained by Dave Tippett, could use a helping hand to stay in the league somewhere else.

“Manny needed to leave Swift Current. It was time but it was still a leap of faith (to the NHL),” said Button. “For me, he’s the kind of guy you might want to take some time with and explore his credentials. Manny coached in Europe and had great success. People always say ‘we have to hire a European coach’, but Manny may be more European than a European (born) guy. As a junior defenceman, he was also a lot like Bruce Cassidy: Offensive player, offensive mind.”

Ex-Oilers Playfair, Manson candidates for Tippett’s staff

Former Oilers’ first-round draft Jim Playfair certainly has the inside track to be one of Tippett’s assistants, looking after the defence, because they were together for six years in Arizona, but another name to consider: Dave Manson.

The Bakersfield assistant did wonders with the young defence there in his first pro coaching gig this past season. Now, maybe the organization would rather Manson stay on the farm to work with kids Evan Bouchard and Dmitri Samorukov, but Manson has a presence through 1,100 NHL games.

It’ll be the third Oilers defensive coach in the last three years — Jim Johnson, Trent Yawney and Mr. X.

Playfair was 20th player taken in the 1982 draft. Nine defencemen were taken in round one that year, including Hall of Famers Scott Stevens and Phil Housley.

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